mass market paperback, 517 pages
English language
Published April 11, 1991 by Bantam.
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope--and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
an amazing way to finish what “hyperion” started, although the ending felt a little hasty and too-neatly tied off
Was a bit of an effort but quite good in the end. Think I’d need to read the next one to fully get why the things that happened happened but I don’t know if I will yet
I thought I was happy to stop at just Hyperion, having read a bunch of intriguing sci Fi vignettes with a satisfying cliff hanger, but this one goes from intriguing to Exploding Brain meme levels of reveals and plots within plots. It was slow to get going but I'm super happy I stuck with it.
Torn between 4 and 5 stars. I loved so much about this book, but sometimes it felt like it was just way too long. I could have probably just done with book #1 followed by the second half of this book.
Coming to grips with this book is like coming to grips with quantum mechanics. You can see what's happening, but it's tough to understand why it's happening.
The book is a triumph. It's a mind-bending opus that incorporates poetry, religion, philosophy, and intrigue. With Hyperion as its prelude, The Fall of Hyperion delivers on its promise of a worthy conclusion (despite my fears that it would end on yet another cliffhanger, something for which Mr. Simmons has a talent for writing.) Enemies shift, and characters grow in unexpected ways.
Despite these laudable qualities, I feel like I'd need a degree in literature AND religion to truly "get" this book. There is some weighty stuff in here. Mr. Simmons juggles multiple characters in multiple locations in multiple timelines with effortless aplomb, and I applaud his ability.
For me, however, reading the Fall of Hyperion was like being trapped in a sandstorm …
Coming to grips with this book is like coming to grips with quantum mechanics. You can see what's happening, but it's tough to understand why it's happening.
The book is a triumph. It's a mind-bending opus that incorporates poetry, religion, philosophy, and intrigue. With Hyperion as its prelude, The Fall of Hyperion delivers on its promise of a worthy conclusion (despite my fears that it would end on yet another cliffhanger, something for which Mr. Simmons has a talent for writing.) Enemies shift, and characters grow in unexpected ways.
Despite these laudable qualities, I feel like I'd need a degree in literature AND religion to truly "get" this book. There is some weighty stuff in here. Mr. Simmons juggles multiple characters in multiple locations in multiple timelines with effortless aplomb, and I applaud his ability.
For me, however, reading the Fall of Hyperion was like being trapped in a sandstorm at the Time Tombs. You can't see anything very clearly, there's a lot of turbulence, and the settings are strange indeed.
The Fall of Hyperion doesn't play down to its reader. It challenges its reader to keep up with it.
Simply amazing book even though not that much is happening after all. The different characters stories were told so differently and engaging it really felt like the character telling his story. Obviously the stories were also very good, especially the one about the child.
The beginning feels a bit overwhelming with all the terms of this science fiction world but in time you'll understand the world more and more. And all the worldbuilding is done "on the way" - it never gets in the way of the story being told itself.
If you like science fiction i'd urge you to read this book, at least the first story (you'll know when it's finished).
Twists towards a wild exploration of intelligence and religion and impossible choice in the face of fate, in an homage to Keats that I'm not really equipped to judge.
Just couldn't get myself to finish this. Moving on to something else.
Not as sublimely great as Hyperion, but nonetheless excellent. A bit too much exposition in the end replaces the mystery of the previous novel with confusion, but taken as a second part rather than a sequel Fall of Hyperion is fantastic.
5/5
Excellent second half of the story that began with "Hyperion". Poetry meets theology meets technology, giving plenty of food for though, as the author never gets out of his way to argue in favor of either.
Wowsers, what a ride. Fascinating universe, intriguing and wide-ranging characters, and a huge, complex story arc - perhaps at times too huge and complex. I never could really get fully on board with the mythical/metaphysical component woven throughout, which at times made things a little rough to get through. The fact that the narrator throughout was (sort of) a metaphysical-ish character made it difficult sometimes, but it was played down enough to work fine. And it was a crazy, wonderful ride regardless - the dilemmas set up were immense and presented well. Gladstone was a particularly powerful and engrossing character, and was very well portrayed - definitely a solid candidate for one of my all-time favorite characters. The universe of farcasters and particularly the consequences that played out through the climax were fascinating, and Gladstone's hand at the helm was expertly written. The chapter following the destruction of the farcaster …
Wowsers, what a ride. Fascinating universe, intriguing and wide-ranging characters, and a huge, complex story arc - perhaps at times too huge and complex. I never could really get fully on board with the mythical/metaphysical component woven throughout, which at times made things a little rough to get through. The fact that the narrator throughout was (sort of) a metaphysical-ish character made it difficult sometimes, but it was played down enough to work fine. And it was a crazy, wonderful ride regardless - the dilemmas set up were immense and presented well. Gladstone was a particularly powerful and engrossing character, and was very well portrayed - definitely a solid candidate for one of my all-time favorite characters. The universe of farcasters and particularly the consequences that played out through the climax were fascinating, and Gladstone's hand at the helm was expertly written. The chapter following the destruction of the farcaster network - little more than a list of worlds and their reactions - I thought was brilliant. The ubiquitous accepted reality of interconnectedness in the society was built up subtly but relentlessly, and the series of vignettes illustrating its collapse was excellent. While the planetary summaries were just a monotonous series of paragraphs, I thought it was quite fitting - this multitude of worlds that had been effectively one continuous expanse of humanity were now each relegated to a small individual paragraph, each dealing with the collapse in their own individual ways, dealing with the ripples of a severed galactic economy. Loved it. Oh, which reminds me of an eyeroll-inducing paragraph: somehow, even though the Catholic church has evolved and moderated over the last 800 years and elected a fucking Teilhard disciple as pope, basically endorsing humanism, the token Muslim planet reacted as all Muslims apparently do and always will: immediately descend into fundamentalism and middle-ages darkness. Come on, Simmons, you can do better than that.
And the Ousters! The future books had better feature more of them, because there is so much awesome potential there, and I am sad about how limited the glimpses I got in this book were. At this point, I care about them a lot more than Moneta and all that lot - it's just too handwavey and disconnected for me to follow or get too involved in so far.
Overall, a fascinating saga [edit: so far, yes Keegan], sweeping and grand and delicious, but got a little too metaphysical for my taste from time to time. But still well-worth the read, and of course with plenty of parallels and reflections on our world to make fodder for late-night discussions if one were wont to.
Wowsers, what a ride. Fascinating universe, intriguing and wide-ranging characters, and a huge, complex story arc - perhaps at times too huge and complex. I never could really get fully on board with the mythical/metaphysical component woven throughout, which at times made things a little rough to get through. The fact that the narrator throughout was (sort of) a metaphysical-ish character made it difficult sometimes, but it was played down enough to work fine. And it was a crazy, wonderful ride regardless - the dilemmas set up were immense and presented well. Gladstone was a particularly powerful and engrossing character, and was very well portrayed - definitely a solid candidate for one of my all-time favorite characters. The universe of farcasters and particularly the consequences that played out through the climax were fascinating, and Gladstone's hand at the helm was expertly written. The chapter following the destruction of the farcaster …
Wowsers, what a ride. Fascinating universe, intriguing and wide-ranging characters, and a huge, complex story arc - perhaps at times too huge and complex. I never could really get fully on board with the mythical/metaphysical component woven throughout, which at times made things a little rough to get through. The fact that the narrator throughout was (sort of) a metaphysical-ish character made it difficult sometimes, but it was played down enough to work fine. And it was a crazy, wonderful ride regardless - the dilemmas set up were immense and presented well. Gladstone was a particularly powerful and engrossing character, and was very well portrayed - definitely a solid candidate for one of my all-time favorite characters. The universe of farcasters and particularly the consequences that played out through the climax were fascinating, and Gladstone's hand at the helm was expertly written. The chapter following the destruction of the farcaster network - little more than a list of worlds and their reactions - I thought was brilliant. The ubiquitous accepted reality of interconnectedness in the society was built up subtly but relentlessly, and the series of vignettes illustrating its collapse was excellent. While the planetary summaries were just a monotonous series of paragraphs, I thought it was quite fitting - this multitude of worlds that had been effectively one continuous expanse of humanity were now each relegated to a small individual paragraph, each dealing with the collapse in their own individual ways, dealing with the ripples of a severed galactic economy. Loved it. Oh, which reminds me of an eyeroll-inducing paragraph: somehow, even though the Catholic church has evolved and moderated over the last 800 years and elected a fucking Teilhard disciple as pope, basically endorsing humanism, the token Muslim planet reacted as all Muslims apparently do and always will: immediately descend into fundamentalism and middle-ages darkness. Come on, Simmons, you can do better than that.
And the Ousters! The future books had better feature more of them, because there is so much awesome potential there, and I am sad about how limited the glimpses I got in this book were. At this point, I care about them a lot more than Moneta and all that lot - it's just too handwavey and disconnected for me to follow or get too involved in so far.
Overall, a fascinating saga [edit: so far, yes Keegan], sweeping and grand and delicious, but got a little too metaphysical for my taste from time to time. But still well-worth the read, and of course with plenty of parallels and reflections on our world to make fodder for late-night discussions if one were wont to.
Wowsers, what a ride. Fascinating universe, intriguing and wide-ranging characters, and a huge, complex story arc - perhaps at times too huge and complex. I never could really get fully on board with the mythical/metaphysical component woven throughout, which at times made things a little rough to get through. The fact that the narrator throughout was (sort of) a metaphysical-ish character made it difficult sometimes, but it was played down enough to work fine. And it was a crazy, wonderful ride regardless - the dilemmas set up were immense and presented well. Gladstone was a particularly powerful and engrossing character, and was very well portrayed - definitely a solid candidate for one of my all-time favorite characters. The universe of farcasters and particularly the consequences that played out through the climax were fascinating, and Gladstone's hand at the helm was expertly written. The chapter following the destruction of the farcaster …
Wowsers, what a ride. Fascinating universe, intriguing and wide-ranging characters, and a huge, complex story arc - perhaps at times too huge and complex. I never could really get fully on board with the mythical/metaphysical component woven throughout, which at times made things a little rough to get through. The fact that the narrator throughout was (sort of) a metaphysical-ish character made it difficult sometimes, but it was played down enough to work fine. And it was a crazy, wonderful ride regardless - the dilemmas set up were immense and presented well. Gladstone was a particularly powerful and engrossing character, and was very well portrayed - definitely a solid candidate for one of my all-time favorite characters. The universe of farcasters and particularly the consequences that played out through the climax were fascinating, and Gladstone's hand at the helm was expertly written. The chapter following the destruction of the farcaster network - little more than a list of worlds and their reactions - I thought was brilliant. The ubiquitous accepted reality of interconnectedness in the society was built up subtly but relentlessly, and the series of vignettes illustrating its collapse was excellent. While the planetary summaries were just a monotonous series of paragraphs, I thought it was quite fitting - this multitude of worlds that had been effectively one continuous expanse of humanity were now each relegated to a small individual paragraph, each dealing with the collapse in their own individual ways, dealing with the ripples of a severed galactic economy. Loved it. Oh, which reminds me of an eyeroll-inducing paragraph: somehow, even though the Catholic church has evolved and moderated over the last 800 years and elected a fucking Teilhard disciple as pope, basically endorsing humanism, the token Muslim planet reacted as all Muslims apparently do and always will: immediately descend into fundamentalism and middle-ages darkness. Come on, Simmons, you can do better than that.
And the Ousters! The future books had better feature more of them, because there is so much awesome potential there, and I am sad about how limited the glimpses I got in this book were. At this point, I care about them a lot more than Moneta and all that lot - it's just too handwavey and disconnected for me to follow or get too involved in so far.
Overall, a fascinating saga [edit: so far, yes Keegan], sweeping and grand and delicious, but got a little too metaphysical for my taste from time to time. But still well-worth the read, and of course with plenty of parallels and reflections on our world to make fodder for late-night discussions if one were wont to.
Whew. What a ride.
AAAAAARRRRGH!!
